Conclusion

This chapter discusses how the Military Reform debate declined and has been confined to ever-smaller sectors after 1991. Key caucus members lost enthusiasm and by the mid-1990s, the Military Reform Caucus disbanded. Chuck Spinney, along with some members of the movement, tried to keep it going and some of them remained active in government and increasingly associated with the radical wing of conservative US politics. The ideals of the Military Reform movement and the Fighter Mafia did not disappear. They still influenced debates on defense technology four decades after the height of their influence. The chapter also weaves the impact of the Military Reform movement to present-day decisions of those in power and reviews its important contributions. Moreover, the chapter underscores that the Reformers became trapped by nostalgia — constantly looking backward and seeking to recreate earlier forms of combat, especially the gun-battle aerial dogfights of the world wars.